(Title reference: "Not the Nine O'Clock News", Rowan Atkinson as the mime artist called "Alternative Carpark".)
Among all the forums, newsletters and blogs that I read about screenwriting, I've noticed a recent trend - the promotion and complaints about writing tools. Someone will say how a particular author's method for screenwriting is really great - so much better than Brand X. And then someone else will come back with how anything like this stifles creativity blah blah blah.
An instructive instance of this appeared on the "Artful Writer" forums only yesterday. I've just joined Artful Writer on a recommendation from James Moran , who had quoted an interview with Scott Frank. Someone had asked Scott whether any experienced and professional writers actually use the sequence approach to writing features, Scott was a little sarcastic in his first response. But a couple of postings later he said he'd check it out.
I use a lot of writing tools, mostly those from the book "Writing a Great Movie" by Jeff Kitchen. Apart from one, these tools weren't developed by him, they are things written by Aristotle, Polti and others. They actually include the so-called "Sequence method" but only as part of a bigger technique and without the more prescriptive additions that seem to have appeared.
I set great store by Aristotle (who never wrote a play), and this is why: Where Aristotle lived they had an annual play competition for which the subject matter was fixed - every play had to be about the same myth with the same characters. Aristotle observed that some plays were good and some weren't; and because they were all about the same storyline with the same characters he could separate out the plot elements to analyse them. Which is how he came to write the Poetics which describes the plot elements that existed in the successful plays.
I use writing tools that I know can help me put together a better story, and help me remove those things that won't work.
I remember when Desktop Publishing tools first appeared back in the late 80s. I was editor in a magazine publishing company at the time and our company was one of the first to move to computer-based layout. The layout and typography guys adapted to the new computer-based tools (mostly) and turned out better-finished work at a faster rate than previously. They were professionals and were now using better tools.
But the DTP revolution had another effect, obviously anybody could buy these tools - and they did - and they used them - but they had no training and usually no talent. And what they produced was garbage. They broke the rules of typography (like having a maximum of three font styles on a page) - because they didn't even know such rules existed.
Then companies began to include cookie-cutter designs with their software, for things like newsletters and pamphlets, so these untrained people could choose designs and fill them in - it meant that the designs looked reasonable. And yet, without a true comprehension of the rules of design and typography, these things are lacklustre. No sparkle. No real talent.
This is what happens with screenwriting.
You can follow McKee's monomyth for example and create a mythic story with all the right beats in the right places - even if you have minimal talent. The result will look like a proper story but it'll be lacklustre. No sparkle.
The thing is this: Each tool has its place, it has a purpose and an end product. But the tools themselves will not generate a good product. (You can't put an uncarved block next to a lathe and chisel, and expect to come back next day to find a beautifully turned chair leg. Not unless you know Rumpelstiltskin.)
If you are writing a story for which the monomyth structure is the way to go then fine. Utilise that tool to assist you in producing a better story. If you find that your story has illogical jumps and you can't quite make things connect use Jeff Kitchen's effect-cause tool to fix it. If you find that your protagonist does not engage with the reader, use Aristotle's Dilemma tool. Apparently the Sequence method is good for helping you through Act II and keeping things going.
But this requires you to know and understand the tools at your disposal. A professional does not reject a new tool out of hand, he checks it out, he sees if it will be useful. Is it a real tool, or just something someone's invented to make a quick buck? You can't know unless you look - which is why Scott Frank said what he said on Artful Writer.
I admit I do not understand people who reject all writing books, and other teaching, out of hand - it strikes me as ignorant. I have read Seger's books - I didn't like them and didn't feel they had anything to offer me. But I read them. Jeff Kitchen, on the other hand, provides a plethora of genuinely useful tools. (Apart from the character stuff - which I don't like and would never use. I have my own tools when it comes to character and have zero interest in pop psychology.)
I would contend that every professional writer (when I use the word professional I'm talking about attitude, not whether they've been paid for a script) has a toolbox. It might contain homemade tools, it might contain learnt tools, or a combination. But the toolbox is there - because writing is rewriting and when you are rewriting you're using something to analyse what's already been written and that something is a tool.
I must admit I have ended up saying something different to what I was going to say when I started - and I have convinced myself I need to read McKee and Campbell even if I never use them.
As a final note about the stifling of creativity: No tool will stifle creativity if used correctly. Just as woodworking tools are entirely safe as long as you understand them and how to use them.
In regard to Tec I didn't end up writing any scenes, I started an outline instead. I needed a different tool because stories of this complexity need to have their detail worked out first, otherwise they are not going to work.
PS: I'm not going to mention the Writer's Guild of Great Britain's special membership offer because everyone else has. (Doh!)
What's on the turntable? The Boy is playing "Yellow Submarine" on the saxophone...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Totally plot-tastic
Yo.
I had got as far as I could with the characters and needed to do some more plot for the first episode of Tec.
Tricky things pilots, all that exposition that needs to be seamlessly melded into the plot, but first you need a plot. Up to this point I had the memory of the plot as figured out by myself and the Teacher all those years ago (I've been saying two years, but I suspect it's more like five or six).
Stories are driven by the antagonist - and in the case of of crime stories, by the crime as committed by the antagonist (or -ists, as it may be). Since I'd really like to experiment with writing a scene or two tomorrow on the train home I needed to get a deeper understanding of the crime to be investigated.
The 36 dramatic situations are helpful here, though I just used them from memory. There are five main characters intimately connected with the crime: Two of them have become brother and sister, because that adds a nice dramatic dynamic.
There is murder involved, but not just anyone will commit a murder - it has to be believable that the murderer really could do it. So there are lots of things to consider but I think I have it sorted - murder, jealousy, blackmail, fraud, greed, illicit sex, more blackmail, more murder. All the fun of the fair.
Now I just have to get my protagonist involved.
What's on the turntable? "Robin (The Hooded Man)" by Clannad from "Pastpresent". Many moons ago the Teacher and I went to a Clannad gig, it was a very civilised affair at the Opera House in Manchester. (We also saw Paul Nicholas as the Pirate King in "Pirates of Penzance" there 5 times.)
I had got as far as I could with the characters and needed to do some more plot for the first episode of Tec.
Tricky things pilots, all that exposition that needs to be seamlessly melded into the plot, but first you need a plot. Up to this point I had the memory of the plot as figured out by myself and the Teacher all those years ago (I've been saying two years, but I suspect it's more like five or six).
Stories are driven by the antagonist - and in the case of of crime stories, by the crime as committed by the antagonist (or -ists, as it may be). Since I'd really like to experiment with writing a scene or two tomorrow on the train home I needed to get a deeper understanding of the crime to be investigated.
The 36 dramatic situations are helpful here, though I just used them from memory. There are five main characters intimately connected with the crime: Two of them have become brother and sister, because that adds a nice dramatic dynamic.
There is murder involved, but not just anyone will commit a murder - it has to be believable that the murderer really could do it. So there are lots of things to consider but I think I have it sorted - murder, jealousy, blackmail, fraud, greed, illicit sex, more blackmail, more murder. All the fun of the fair.
Now I just have to get my protagonist involved.
What's on the turntable? "Robin (The Hooded Man)" by Clannad from "Pastpresent". Many moons ago the Teacher and I went to a Clannad gig, it was a very civilised affair at the Opera House in Manchester. (We also saw Paul Nicholas as the Pirate King in "Pirates of Penzance" there 5 times.)
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Plan 9 (from Inner Space)
If you've never seen the real Plan 9 from Outer Space it's an experience that you shouldn't deny yourself. It is, arguably, the very worst film ever made - which makes it a classic, of course. It's not just the awful script, the awful acting, the totally awful "special" effects; it's the appalling direction, the appalling editing and the fact that on some of the days that they were filming the night scenes they forgot the night filter for the camera. But they filmed it anyway and cut it all together so that sections of the film flip from day to night and back. Truly bad.
But this isn't about that. It's about the fact I can't write short stories or short films.
I have been planning Tec. This is supposed to be a detective TV series, you know, the sort that has a new story every week. And I have that, I have the setting arranged so I can have a different story every week. Honest.
But those damn characters make a bigger story. I've been making notes about the various lead and supporting regular cast, bits of background and so on, so that when I start I'll have enough to be able to hear their voices saying the words I give them.
Writers deal in consequences "if that happens then that other thing will happen and then..." We guide those consequences in the direction that we want them to go for the most part.
So I'm writing back story: The protagonist is the sort of person who really wouldn't end up in prison, but she did and now she's out. She committed a cyber-crime that, while it doesn't actually hurt people (and certainly not in this case) Governments are paranoid about it and you get banged up for a long time in a high security prison.
The implications of this, and how she got there, are enormous. The consequences are huge. She's an interesting character with a hell of a past, which she can't escape from.
The end result of that is a story arc across all six episodes, intermingled with the story of the week. I'm not planning to write the entire series, as with Monsters I'll just write the pilot, but everything will be connected so I have to know what it is before I start.
So I'm planning and it keeps getting bigger.
Beyond character backgrounds I'm also doing ideas for plot arcs. Lots of this won't ever appear, and might become cancelled out by something else in the story as I write it. And new things will very definitely appear as I write.
There's still lots more thinking to do before it's time to start writing - after all I'm still wavering on the opening scene. I need that crystallised before I start. On the other hand I already have the final scenes at the end of Episode 6 decided.
Writing's a funny game.
In other news: The Boy has been cast as Fat Sam in the school production of Bugsy Malone next (academic) year. He already knows most of it as the whole family loves that film, it can be watched as many times as you like and still be fresh. The Daughter failed to get into any drama college for next year (though she met people who had been trying for years). The Oxford one she didn't like - they barely listened to her audition; RADA were too serious and completely failed to appreciate the humour in her contemporary audition piece; The Bristol Old Vic liked her a lot, told her she had excellent comic timing but said she was too young and weren't entirely happy with her Shakespeare interpretation (they also said come back next year). So she'll be going to Borneo instead, to push baby orangutans around in a wheelbarrow.
What's on the turntable? "Coinleach Ghlas an Fhómhair" by Clannad from the compilation "Pastpresent"
But this isn't about that. It's about the fact I can't write short stories or short films.
I have been planning Tec. This is supposed to be a detective TV series, you know, the sort that has a new story every week. And I have that, I have the setting arranged so I can have a different story every week. Honest.
But those damn characters make a bigger story. I've been making notes about the various lead and supporting regular cast, bits of background and so on, so that when I start I'll have enough to be able to hear their voices saying the words I give them.
Writers deal in consequences "if that happens then that other thing will happen and then..." We guide those consequences in the direction that we want them to go for the most part.
So I'm writing back story: The protagonist is the sort of person who really wouldn't end up in prison, but she did and now she's out. She committed a cyber-crime that, while it doesn't actually hurt people (and certainly not in this case) Governments are paranoid about it and you get banged up for a long time in a high security prison.
The implications of this, and how she got there, are enormous. The consequences are huge. She's an interesting character with a hell of a past, which she can't escape from.
The end result of that is a story arc across all six episodes, intermingled with the story of the week. I'm not planning to write the entire series, as with Monsters I'll just write the pilot, but everything will be connected so I have to know what it is before I start.
So I'm planning and it keeps getting bigger.
Beyond character backgrounds I'm also doing ideas for plot arcs. Lots of this won't ever appear, and might become cancelled out by something else in the story as I write it. And new things will very definitely appear as I write.
There's still lots more thinking to do before it's time to start writing - after all I'm still wavering on the opening scene. I need that crystallised before I start. On the other hand I already have the final scenes at the end of Episode 6 decided.
Writing's a funny game.
In other news: The Boy has been cast as Fat Sam in the school production of Bugsy Malone next (academic) year. He already knows most of it as the whole family loves that film, it can be watched as many times as you like and still be fresh. The Daughter failed to get into any drama college for next year (though she met people who had been trying for years). The Oxford one she didn't like - they barely listened to her audition; RADA were too serious and completely failed to appreciate the humour in her contemporary audition piece; The Bristol Old Vic liked her a lot, told her she had excellent comic timing but said she was too young and weren't entirely happy with her Shakespeare interpretation (they also said come back next year). So she'll be going to Borneo instead, to push baby orangutans around in a wheelbarrow.
What's on the turntable? "Coinleach Ghlas an Fhómhair" by Clannad from the compilation "Pastpresent"
Monday, May 04, 2009
Searchamafacation #3 and stuff
So my monthly look at how people have got to my site. Though, to be honest, very few people come here from Searches, mostly its direct or from references from other blogs. This means that, this month there are lots of searches that have scored the same. I was going to take searches for lil ole me out of the running - it's a bit obvious - but if I don't then I can't have a top ten.
Great stuff.
I have decided that I won't work on the secret spec script this month. Instead I'll continue according to plan and write the detective TV series pilot of Tec. This did take a lot of thinking about but in the end came down to the fact that, while I love writing SF and Fantasy, I need to have something that isn't one of those in my portfolio.
The secret spec is fantasy and wouldn't help my overall goal this year to get commissioned while Tec will. (And Tec will help with agents, though getting an agent isn't a goal.)
What's on the turntable? Nothing as I'm on the train.
- Me. Yay!
- Jointly: Imagination Cubed and Red Planet
- -
- Jointly: Inktip and "lost in time lost in space". Curious how many people are interested in the latter.
- -
- Jointly: Celtx, "Google Gadget Progress Bar", and "Tiddly-Pom". It goes on snowing for Pooh and perhaps I really ought to work out a full version of the progress bar.
- -
- -
- Jointly: "fun script" and Merlin.
- -
Great stuff.
I have decided that I won't work on the secret spec script this month. Instead I'll continue according to plan and write the detective TV series pilot of Tec. This did take a lot of thinking about but in the end came down to the fact that, while I love writing SF and Fantasy, I need to have something that isn't one of those in my portfolio.
The secret spec is fantasy and wouldn't help my overall goal this year to get commissioned while Tec will. (And Tec will help with agents, though getting an agent isn't a goal.)
What's on the turntable? Nothing as I'm on the train.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Coming of Age
I have done almost nothing for the last couple of days - well, when I say "nothing" it's not really nothing. Just not writing.
Today is the Daughter's 18th Birthday, she was out with her friends yesterday, seeing "Wolverine" followed by an all-you-can-eat Chinese. Then back for a sleep-over. She doesn't do clubbing and doesn't drink alcohol at all. Today we're off to a country fair, mostly horses and dogs. Tomorrow we'll all go and see "Wolverine" as a family.
The Teacher is working today, of course. Good teachers do rather more work than people give them credit for. (She was particularly annoyed at the report that came out last week about education "That's what good teachers do! And we've been doing it for years!" was her (edited) response.
In fact I didn't get to post this before so we went to the fair. We didn't have coats or hats and it was windy and rained a bit (we are usually better organised than this). But we decided to have a good time, so we did. As this is a country fair with dogs it means that dogs are allowed. So we took the puppy with us. I say "puppy", he is only about 1 year old but he's a good size and full of energy. Someone suggested the word "doglet" for a dog that's fully grown but not mature. We decided to put Toby in for one of the dog classes: the Teacher chose "Friendliest Dog".
The Daughter took him into the ring and encouraged him to wag his tail. That's not hard, he is a super-friendly dog and his tail is a dangerous weapon. He came 4th and got a rosette for doing the only thing he knows. Wagging his tail.
That's a terrible lie, for a dog he is very intelligent which is a bad thing in a male dog: The intelligent ones are the ones that try to take over the pack. And he often tries to move up the pecking order by arguing and has to be slapped down hard - for his own good. On the other hand he is very sweet-tempered.
Personally I really am more of a cat person, but I don't have a problem being the pack's alpha male for the sake of keeping the puppy happy. (Interesting fact: A wolf pack's alpha female won't mate with any male except the alpha male - which essentially makes it her choice if there are two equal contenders, which occasionally happens.)
On the writing side I have been thinking very hard. Although I am very keen to write Tec there is another spec script which could be very beneficial to my career - perhaps more so in the short term and it's potentially time critical. I'm not sure of the best course of action so I shall have to consult with my consultant.
What's on the turntable? Nuffink
Today is the Daughter's 18th Birthday, she was out with her friends yesterday, seeing "Wolverine" followed by an all-you-can-eat Chinese. Then back for a sleep-over. She doesn't do clubbing and doesn't drink alcohol at all. Today we're off to a country fair, mostly horses and dogs. Tomorrow we'll all go and see "Wolverine" as a family.
The Teacher is working today, of course. Good teachers do rather more work than people give them credit for. (She was particularly annoyed at the report that came out last week about education "That's what good teachers do! And we've been doing it for years!" was her (edited) response.
In fact I didn't get to post this before so we went to the fair. We didn't have coats or hats and it was windy and rained a bit (we are usually better organised than this). But we decided to have a good time, so we did. As this is a country fair with dogs it means that dogs are allowed. So we took the puppy with us. I say "puppy", he is only about 1 year old but he's a good size and full of energy. Someone suggested the word "doglet" for a dog that's fully grown but not mature. We decided to put Toby in for one of the dog classes: the Teacher chose "Friendliest Dog".
The Daughter took him into the ring and encouraged him to wag his tail. That's not hard, he is a super-friendly dog and his tail is a dangerous weapon. He came 4th and got a rosette for doing the only thing he knows. Wagging his tail.
That's a terrible lie, for a dog he is very intelligent which is a bad thing in a male dog: The intelligent ones are the ones that try to take over the pack. And he often tries to move up the pecking order by arguing and has to be slapped down hard - for his own good. On the other hand he is very sweet-tempered.
Personally I really am more of a cat person, but I don't have a problem being the pack's alpha male for the sake of keeping the puppy happy. (Interesting fact: A wolf pack's alpha female won't mate with any male except the alpha male - which essentially makes it her choice if there are two equal contenders, which occasionally happens.)
On the writing side I have been thinking very hard. Although I am very keen to write Tec there is another spec script which could be very beneficial to my career - perhaps more so in the short term and it's potentially time critical. I'm not sure of the best course of action so I shall have to consult with my consultant.
What's on the turntable? Nuffink
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